The Missing Piece
by candygood1
Summary: Ryuuya was the daughter of Yashamaru and his successor as Gaara's caretaker. She loved her younger cousin and learnt from her father that he was not the monster that was sealed inside him. He was just a lonely child who needed love and Ryuuya was prepared to give it to him. GaaraxOC 2 YEAR HIATUS
1. Prologue Father o' Mine

**The Missing Piece**

 **A/N**

 **This is really just something I came up with while I'm having writer block with my other fics. Might not regularly update and may have serious grammar problems. Also I don't really know what a mary sue is so if my OC happens to be one please tell me cause i seriously have no clue about mary sues and greys.**

 **Other than that just please enjoy it and stick with me till the end ^^.**

 **Prologue**

 **Father o' mine**

 _"Blood does flow from a wound on the body and the wound may appear painful. But as time passes, the pain naturally disappears. By using medicine, the healing is even faster. But what's dangerous is a wound of the heart. Nothing has more trouble healing._ _A wound on the body and a wound of the heart are slightly different. Unlike a wound on the body, there is no ointment and sometimes, it doesn't heal for one's life. But there is one thing that can cure a wound of the heart. However, this is a complicated medicine. It can only be given to you by another person. The thing that can cure a wound of the heart that is, love. Ryuuya I want you to remember this carefully and do your best as you continue to care for Gaara-sama." Yashamaru said, biting down on his lower lip as he knew this was going to be the last time he saw he daughter again. He looked lovingly down at her face once more, tenderly stroking her pale cheeks as he saw the tears form in her ghostly pale violet eyes._

 _Ryuuya had never seen her father wear his Anbu gear after he was assigned as Gaara's caretaker and by the slight quiver in his voice the dear 11 year old knew what was to be feared._

 _Shakily Ryuuya took out the stone Kanzashi out of her hair, loosening her hair bun and letting her long fiery red hair flow down to her waist. She handled it carefully as she gently placed the Kanzashi into her father's hands. "You have to return this to me when you come back or I'll…I'll never forgive you."Her tears fell down heavily onto the Kanzashi as she said this and Yashamaru almost cried himself as he saw his daughter's tears._

 _However Yashamaru silently held back his tears and grasped tightly onto the Kanzashi, embracing Ryuuya one last time before he headed out to find Gaara. "Ah…I'll make sure to return it. Be a good girl and go to bed early alright."_

 _They parted with a final "I love you." and Ryuuya sat on her bed quietly as she waited for Yashamaru to return, only to be bewildered by the sight of the Shukaku destroying the village._

 _A loose Shukaku meant an unstable Gaara and an unstable Gaara meant blood and…death. The kunoichi side of Ryuuya wanted to run out to help calm Gaara down while the other 11 year old girl side told her to stay put and wait for Yashamaru. Yashamaru…father! Was he okay, was he with the other shinobi trying to stop Gaara, was Gaara alright, just what made him lose control. Fear and worry overwhelmed Ryuuya as she paced franticly in her room praying for both to be safe._

 _"_ _Please…come home soon…"_

 _Hours past at it was only as dawn broke that the news that the Kazekage had successfully stopped the Shukaku was spread. Ryuuya sighed in relief. At least one of her worries was gone but she still had no news about her father. He should have been back by now. Did he NO he promised he'd be back. He knows how precious that Kanzashi is to her and he'd make sure he returned it in one piece. With that small hope in her mind Ryuuya waited patiently by the door until hours later Baki's grim figure presented himself before her, informing her of her father's death._

 _When Baki told her the details Ryuuya couldn't believe what she was hearing. He'd been killed by Gaara during a failed assassination mission which had led to the Shukaku's release. How? Why? Wasn't her father Gaara's caretaker, wasn't he the one who had taught her to love and care for him._

 _Confusion and sorrow slowly claimed the red haired girl, her ghostly violet eyes growing paler by the second until they were practically like the eyes of a dead fish. She looked lost and almost hopeless as Baki hesitated to inform her that she had to go identify Yashamaru's body._

 _"_ _Do you want me to carry you?" He asked, crouching down to Ryuuya's height, stretching out his arms to her as he had on the usual occasions she'd gave him her puppy eye look to get him to carry her. Half expecting her to push past him Baki waited patiently until the girl finally toddled into his arms. He felt a few wet tears soak his chest as Ryuuya buried her head into his jacket. Baki knew better to Shunshin in this kind of situation and chose to walk the short distance to the general hospital, trying to calm her down as gently as possible._

 _This caused them to be a bit late and receive a few glares from Chiyo when they arrived. Baki hesitated to hand Ryuuya over to Chiyo as the teenager was still grasping tightly onto his jacket but as he saw the shadow of the Kazekage in the corner, he reluctantly placed her down on the floor. With that Chiyo gently took hold of the girl's hand and led her to where her father lay._

 _When Ryuuya laid her eyes on Yashamaru's body her dead eyes grew even colder now with visible tears dropping down her frail cheeks. It was only when she caught sight of her Kanzashi did the girl finally stopped._

 _The stone white Kanzashi was still grasped tightly in Yashamaru's hands that refused to let it go even after his death. And even though most of his body was covered with his deep crimson blood Ryuuya saw that the Kanzashi was still as white and pure as it had been when she had teary given it to him. She cupped her frail hands over the Kanzashi, letting the tears once again fall down as she bitterly shouted at her dead father._

 _"_ _Why…you said that we had to protect him and you still...you said you'd return it to me when you came back…OTOU-SAN YOU LIAR!" Tears streamed down furiously as Ryuuya tried her best to hold them back. It was useless, the tears wouldn't stop and her questions would be answered…he was dead and she was alone._

 _Strong arms tried to comfort her from behind, holding her gently in their chest as they rocked her back and forth trying to stop her tears. Ryuuya didn't know who it was who was holding her but saw a glimpse of auburn as the warmth of the person's body slowly led her to a sleepless dream._

 _Rasa let out a soft sigh as he saw the girl had finally fallen asleep. He wrapped her long red hair up in her cloak before leaving the room where the body of his trusted right hand man lay. Baki greeted them, hiding his shocked expressions as he saw Ryuuya sound asleep in the Kazekage's arms._

 _"_ _Kazekage-sama, may I take her from your arms?" He asked carefully._

 _Rasa shook his head, "She might wake up and from what I saw inside it is better if she sleeps."_

 _"_ _Then may I escort you to an empty room?"_

 _"…_ _That would be for the best."_

 _With a short bow Baki led Rasa to an empty hospital room where he carefully tucked his sleeping niece into the covers' of the bed._

 _"_ _Baki you may guard from outside the room and inform me if anyone is in need of my presence."_

 _Baki nodded at the order and bowed shortly before leaving the room. With only the two of them in the room Rasa rested his stern gaze into a gentler and almost caring one. He sat himself down beside his niece wiping the remains of her dray tears as a sorrowful tone escaped his lips. "I'm sorry little one. You did not deserve this as neither did my son or your father. I hope you forgive me when the time comes…"_

 _With that he left the room not knowing that a shadow hiding in the shadows heard and wept in silence._

 _"_ _Anata…"_

* * *

It had taken months for Ryuuya to recover from Yashamaru's death and more so for her to be retitled as Gaara's caretaker. Technically she was too emotional to be the jinchuuriki's caretaker she was what the council described to be a snotty teenager. But for some unknown reason the Kazekage had strongly pushed it upon Ryuuya as Gaara soon became almost impossible to cope with. After a lot of therapy and countless subscriptions of horribly bitter medicines Ryuuya was finally titled as caretaker of Sabaku no Gaara.

Ryuuya was not happy at this when she was informed of the news. However she wasn't unhappy as well. Her father's last wishes had been for her to continue caring for Gaara and she was not going to just trample over them because of her sore spot. She had loved her younger cousin before and she'd do it again. She'd always known that Gaara wasn't a monster and that it was Shukaku who was doing this to him. With the help of therapy she was now calm enough to once again let that fact bury itself back into her mind.

Gaara was a broken soul, lonely and bricked up from the rest of the world that furiously tried to reject the poor boy. Ryuuya vowed to herself that she'd help Gaara and make him and the rest of the world open their eyes.

"I'll make you proud otou-san, just you wait."


	2. Chapter 1 The Wound

**Chapter One**

 **The Wound**

It was her first day as Gaara's caretaker and it had been somewhat 2 years since the incident with Yashamaru and Shukaku. Ryuuya had been dressed up by Maki (her caretaker for the past two years) for the occasion which Ryuuya thought was not worth dressing up. All the same Maki ignored her grumbles and dressed the girl in a pale lilac kimono patterned with white lily-of-the-valley and deep purple tulips on the hinge. Her obi was a darker shade of the tulips with the pale white obi string holding everything straight. It was foremost Ryuuya's favorite outfit since in brought out her pale violet colored eyes and went with her stone kanzashi. Maki had used the kanzashi to pin her tight hair bun in place, admiring the kanzashi as the silk rose that decorated it turned from the crimson red it had been in the morning to a pale violet that complimented her hard day's work. Maki never got tired at admiring Ryuuya's color changing kanzashi as she had watched the rose decoration change color to color. Ryuuya had once explained that the silk that the rose was made out of had been made out of pure chakra and that she could apply a small amount of her own chakra to change it to the color of her liking. It fascinated Maki and she had once asked Ryuuya where she'd gotten it but she never asked again as she saw the sad expression on Ryuuya's usually cheerful face.

"There now you're ready to even become a bride to the wind daimyo's son." Maki laughed as she finally teared her eyes away from the kanzashi.

"You could be sent to jail for that you know Maki." Ryuuya joked, deadpanned as she looked at her new appearance.

"Well, tut, tut little missy. What they don't know can't hurt them."

"What if they do know?"

"You wouldn't dare."

"I would."

"…keep it a secret and I'll buy you some dango."

"Got to do better than that Maki, I won't even be able to go out for dango anymore when I'm looking after Gaara."

A twist of pain suddenly gabbed at both Maki and Ryuuya's hearts as they both remembered why they where there in the first place.

"Sorry…" Ryuuya said sadly as Maki walked her down the hall.

"No I am. It took me now to realize that I'm losing you." Maki sighed.

"You're not losing me. I can visit you and…" Ryuuya was cut off by Baki who had suddenly appeared before then, startling Maki who quickly let out her anger at the jonin.

"WHAT THE HELL! DO YOU WANT TO GIVE YOUR SISTER A HEART ATTACK!" Maki screamed.

Baki with his chakra blocking most of his older sister's screams replied, "I am sorry for my rude entrance ane-san but you were late and I was sent to take Ryuuya from your hands."

"Damn it...just give us a few more minutes." Maki tsked.

Baki nodded and vanished.

"Damn cheeky brat. To think I raised him with my heart and soul to get that as compensation."

"HE could be worse. Remember Kankuro."

At the mention of the Kazekage's first son both Ryuuya and Maki shuddered. "Okay now thanks to you I'm going to get nightmares about the OTHER cheeky brat."

"What about me? Will I be there?"

"Course not. You'll be in one of the good ones eating dango with me…"

A small tear rolled down Maki cheeks as she suddenly bent down and gave Ryuuya the biggest hug she had ever had. "I'm gonna miss you…"

"Me too…"

"I'll get Baki to help us communicate. He owes his sister that much at least."

"I'll be looking forward to it then."

"Yeah…take care of yourself alright. I don't want to have to attend your funeral when that m…Gaara kills you."

"He won't. I'll make sure of it."

"I love you…so be safe, be strong and just be careful."

"Un…you too Maki. I love you."

"Goodbye then…"

"Un thank you for everything you're done for me."

"It was my pleasure."

With the last hug and squeeze Baki reappeared and took Ryuuya before vanishing again.

The next thing Ryuuya saw was a wooden door. Baki placed her down in front of the door as he opened it and revealed the small red head behind it.

It had been 2 years since Ryuuya had last seen him. Ryuuya was now 13 and a half while Gaara had turned 9. Too many things had changed in those 2 years and with just one glance Ryuuya could tell that the old Gaara she knew was nowhere to be seen.

"Gaara-kun?" She asked cautiously walking over to the red head until a storm of sand came flying towards her frail figure. Baki sprinted to her side to protect her but failed to stop the sand's attack on my neck

Blood started to pool down Ryuuya's wounded neck as it bled immensely. Luckily enough Ryuuya had learnt how to use medical jutsu and panted heavily to Baki as she healed her neck. "Please don't inform him Baki...I'm alright..."

It took a while for her to stop the bleeding and it was the patch up of the skin was rough job as well. Her father's healing had always left her skin smooth as silk but then again her father wasn't a normal medical nin. The wound would defiantly leave a scar but Ryuuya didn't care. Kunoichi got scars all the time and if they had time to worry about a few scars they were failures of a kunoichi. What Ryuuya did care about was the expression that haunted Gaara's face.

Empty…Hurt had filled Gaara's eyes and regret soon sunk into Ryuuya.

She opened her mouth to try and apologize when another burst of sand hit her; flinging her across the room. She hit the sandy wall hard and stained her pale kimono with the crimson blood that seeped out her mouth. She could have easily healed herself but chose not to as she stood right back up and slowly walked over to her dear cousin.

Gaara's sand attacked furiously, trying its best to keep the other red head away from the 9 year old. However this time Ryuuya didn't take the attacks. She quickly rolled up her kimono sleeves to reveal the inked seals on her arms, infusing them with her chakra as she hurried to make the hand seals as the sand rose up for another attack.

"Uzumaki Sealing Arts: Chakra First Seal!"

In an instant the sand fell to the floor, leaving a horrified expression on both Gaara and Baki.

"Wha?!" Gaara shouted stepping backwards as Ryuuya approached him.

For the first time in years Gaara felt something trigger within him. Unknown to him he was shaking...in fear. Shukaku didn't like it.

 **FUCK THAT BITCH! HOW THE HELL DID A BRAT LIKE THAT** **OUR CHAKRA!**

 _What? She did what?!_

 **SHE SEALED OUR CHAKRA! THAT FUCKING BITCH USED THE FRICKIN UZUMAKI SEALS TO SEAL OUR CHAKRA TEMPORARY!**

Gaara's eyes widened at Shukaku's words. She had sealed his chakra! Just how had she done it? Just how had she the strength, the chakra to seal Shukaku's abnormal chakra with a wound that was probably killing her. He stared wide eyed at Ryuuya who now stood right in front of him…smiling gently down at him. She reached out her hand to over his face and Gaara was expecting her to slap him but to his utter shock what he got instead was a hug.

"Tadaima…Gaara-kun…" was the last thing Gaara heard Ryuuya say before the girl finally gave out. Her body slumped onto his smaller form still holding him in a tight embrace…her warmth still heating up against his cold skin.

Gaara didn't know what to do. Shukaku was screaming at him to kill her but how could he? She had sealed his chakra and with Baki there he couldn't use weapons.

He stood motionless for a while before Baki finally took Ryuuya from red head jinchuriki. Carefully the jonin placed Ryuuya on the floor and felt for her pulse. To his relief it was still there. It was weak and barely but if he got her to hospital quick enough she'd survive.

"I'm taking her to hospital…I am not going to report this to the council so do not speak of this to anyone. If asked about her wounds tell them you don't know." Baki said before shunshining away.

Gaara was alone and confused as he stared down at the huge blood stain Ryuuya once lay.


End file.
